SNAKE CHARMING. 



141 



The following narrative of Mr. H. E. Reyne, quoted by Sir J. E. Terment in his 

 " Natural History of Ceylon," seems to be a sufficient proof that the man did possess 

 sufficient power to induce a truly poisonous Serpent to leave its hole and to perform certain 

 antics at his command. " A Snake-charmer came to my bungalow in 1854, requesting me 

 to allow him to show me his Snakes dancing. As -I had frequently seen them, I told him 

 I would give him a rupee if he would accompany me to the jungle and catch a Cobra that 

 I knew frequented the place. 



He was willing, and as I was 

 anxious to test the truth of the 

 charm, I counted his tame Snakes, 

 and put a watch over them until 

 I returned with him. Before 

 going, I examined the man, and 

 satisfied myself he had no Snake 

 about his person. When we 

 arrived at the spot, he played 

 upon a small pipe, and after per- 

 severing for some time, out came 

 a large Cobra from an ant-hill 

 which I knew it occupied. On 

 seeing the man, it tried to escape, 

 but he caught it by the tail and 

 kept swinging it round until we 

 reached the bungalow. He then 

 made it dance, but before long it 

 bit him above the knee. He im- 

 mediately bandaged the leg above 

 the bite, and applied a Snake- 

 stone to the wound to extract the 

 poison. He was in great pain 

 for a few minutes, but after that 

 it gradually went away, the stone 

 falling off just before he was 

 relieved. 



"When he recovered, be held 

 up a cloth, at which the Snake 

 flew, and caught its fangs in it. 

 While in that position, the man 

 passed his hand up its back, and, 

 having seized it by the throat, he 

 extracted the fangs in my pre- 

 sence and gave them to me. He 

 then squeezed out the poison on 

 to a leaf. It was a clear oily 

 substance, and when rubbed on 

 the hand, produced a fine lather. 

 I carefully watched the whole 

 operation, which was also wit- 

 nessed by my clerk -and tw T o or 

 three other persons." 



With regard to the so-called charming of Serpents, there is no need of imagining these 

 men to be possessed of any superhuman powers ; for these, and most of the venomous 

 Serpents, are peculiarly indolent, and averse to using the terrible weapons which they 

 wield; in proof of which assertion, the reader may recollect that Mr. Waterton, though not 

 pretending to be a Snake-charmer, carried a number of rattlesnakes in his bare hand 

 without being bitten for his meddling. Not that I would positively assert that the Snake- 



COBRA DI CAPELLO.-^tya 



